Jan van Eyck, a Flemish painter was recognized to be one of the greatest northern renaissance artists to have emerged during the 14th century, a period where the Byzantine art phrase was being traded for the realism period (Ridderbos, Bernhard, Anne Van Buren, and Henk 3). Throughout his paintings, the artist was renowned for employing inscriptions in his paintings, most of which were crafted in Greek letters. It was during this era that we the audience encounter the solemn still Man in a Red Turban, a captivating and exceptional oil-based portrait that was located at the National Gallery in London, with its creation date being traced back to the 14th century.
Located in the London’s public gallery display, the portrait which was acknowledged for its lack of emotional expression, was at one point asserted to be a self-portrait of the artist Jan Van Eyck. The oil portrait depicted a man dressed in a red chaperone on his head while the rest of the body was dressed in a dark fur cloak, with his stare looking directly at the audience. The art piece is defined by a high sense of detail from a line and shading perspective, one that resonates the natural facial movements as well as the contours. As a defining characteristic of Van Eyck’s portraits, the art piece offered a 3/4 profile of the artist, with the lips pursed together, an aspect that cumulatively enhanced the calm but pensive character of the face (Ridderbos, Bernhard, Anne Van Buren, and Henk 3). Finally, the inclusion of visible wrinkles and blood vessels in the eyes triggered the realistic depiction of the face.
The painting was crafted on an oil canvas, with Jan van Eyck employing a minimum of nine different shades of color, all of which were differentiated by subtle variations. When focusing on the process, the light strokes of painting were associated with Jan’s trademark techniques. From a technique rendition, the artist depicted ¾ of the portrait’s profile, an element that enabled the author to craft the light to be emitted from the left side of the painting.
The art piece context was a self-portrait, as the numerous speculation around the facial structure, eyes stare as well as stubble beard reaffirm that the man in a turban was the artist’s rendition of his perception as a clergyman (Lee, Frances Glessner, and Giovanni Morelli 12). When assessing the mood of the picture, the face appeared to be slightly tilted to the left with the eyes fixed upon the viewer, an element that invoked the aspect of solemn stillness in the character’s gaze.
The museum’s labeling on the portrait indicates that the art piece was of oil paint, embodied by a wooden frame that was marked with two Greek inscriptions at the top and bottom of the painting (Lee, Frances Glessner, and Giovanni Morelli 5). The use of oil paintings enabled the artist to achieve a unique three dimension object depiction of the portrait’s detail, paving the way for the broader aspects of realism.
In conclusion, the depiction of Van Eyck’s portrait in London’s national gallery enhances the impact of the art piece, primarily as the creator of the piece Jan van Eyck is considered to be one of the pioneers of realism. The rich realism that is embedded in the portrait gives the artist’s piece a modern aura of sophistication when it is compared to other existing renaissance artworks that were crafted during the given time. Winding up, the artist’s use of oil painting was a technique that was ahead of time, especially amongst Italy artists, an aspect that made the work a rare shining jewel.
Art History: New System of Perspectives
There were four primary systems of perspectives employed during the Renaissance by artists, namely linear, atmospheric, color, and planar perspectives (Teresa 1).
Linear Perspective
As the first system, linear perspective generally revolved around the creation of depth detail by reducing the size of the object, in a bid to portray the objects as if they were regressing into the open space. The technique revolved around the application of the vanishing method all in an effort to craft a point in which all of the lines would converge (Teresa 1). The impact of the linear perspective on the artwork was that most of the paintings created during the era had a depth dimension, where the audience appeared to be looking down into unprecedented realism.
Atmospheric Perspective
As the second approach, the tactic entailed the creation of depth illusion by enhancing the blurry lines that defined the details of an object or a figure. Primarily, under this tactic, the foreground scene was remarkably detailed while the background scene was crafted to be hazier and far-off the coastline, hence the appearance of a “muted” tone (Teresa 1). The impact of the perspective, as it is present in Pieter Brueghel’s works is that images would regress into a distant caption as if realistically captured in nature.
Color Perspective
Similar to the atmospheric perspective, color perspective was a technique that was employed to conjure the saturation and depth of colors with the sole intention of provoking space regress. Permanently under this tactic, the foreground composition would utilize intense color saturation, while the transition to the background the colors would transition commencing off with green, blue up to the furthest depth composition (Teresa 1). The impact of this strategy was embedded in the ability to nurture space regress that was defined by a deep background composition.
Planar Perspective
The technique involved a combination of color together with the composition’s division into layers as an approach to creating a sense of depth. A famous example of this is aspect eminent in Leonardo’s, “Mona-Lisa,” (Teresa 1). The impact of the strategy on subsequent artwork emerged in the desire to craft distinct planar divisions of art piece’s background.
Work Cited
Lee, Frances Glessner, and Giovanni Morelli. "CLUES, HIDDEN SYMBOLISM, AND EARLY RENAISSANCE ART." (2018).
Ridderbos, Bernhard, Anne Van Buren, and Henk van Veen, eds. Early Netherlandish paintings: rediscovery, reception and research. Amsterdam University Press, 2017.
Teresa Siskin. Four Types of Perspective in Renaissance Art. Education Seattle Pi, 2013.
